Mercier’s feet stilled. His eyes took on a wary sheen, but he only chuckled as if she were a dull child in need of schooling. “You have a lot of interesting opinions, Mrs. Bouchard. You might do well to keep some of them to yourself. You never know whom you might offend if a careless statement reaches the wrong ears.”
Her tongue wouldn’t be so loose if she had any idea how many people from all walks of life have quietly pledged their support to Opus. Time to ditch the bitch. Before anyone overhears her and assumes I could be anything but loyal to the cause.
Especially someone like the man who’ll be dropping a cool hundred million from the organization into my bank account in a couple of days.
Mercier’s gaze left hers and flicked out over the crowd. It was a purely reflexive glance that on its own would mean nothing. But having come on the heels of his last thought, the casual search of the reception guests in that moment was more telling than anything else he’d said or thought all day.
Holy shit. Had he just let it slip that one of Opus’s members was here at the estate?
Kaya followed Mercier’s gaze into the crowd that was spread out over the lawn and gardens. At first, she wasn’t sure what she was looking for. But then, she found him.
A portly dark-haired man casually making his way out of the reception.
Without looking back, he walked up the marble stairs and through the open French doors of the mansion.
Whoever he was, he was determined to get out of there without drawing attention to himself.
Which only made Kaya’s curiosity deepen.
“Thanks for the dance,” Mercier muttered. He released her as if he’d been burned, their connection instantly severed.
She no further use of it, anyway. Right now, she had her sights locked on bigger game.
There wasn’t a second to waste.
Not even to signal to Aric somewhere on the dance floor that their mission objective had suddenly taken a sharp left turn. Her conversation with Mercier was a problem they would have to clean up later. Right now, there was only one thing Kaya had to do and that was ID the man currently attempting to leave the reception unnoticed.
Kaya stepped away from the pavilion to cut an arrow’s path across the grass then up the stairs to the mansion. A smattering of wedding guests congregated inside, their conversation and laughter punctuated by the rapid tick of her high-heeled sandals as she hurried through, her gaze searching for Mercier’s Opus contact.
Holy hell, there he was. Several yards ahead of her, weaving around Phillipe Rousseau and a circle of well-dressed gentlemen chatting and smoking cigars just off the foyer. Kaya picked up her pace. She’d chase the bastard down in the parking area if she had to. Anything to get a glimpse of his face. Better yet, a glimpse into his mind.
Although how she would manage that with a small army of guards posted all over the estate and the surrounding grounds, she wasn’t certain. She only knew she had to try.
One of those uniformed men watched her intently as she strode toward the foyer. She recognized him from their arrival. Beneath his cap of close-shorn red hair, his gaze held on her with pointed interest, even suspicion.
“Can I help you with anything, ma’am?”
Kaya smiled and shook her head, her feet still moving in the direction of her target. “I just... forgot something in the car. But thank you.”
He didn’t return her smile.
She kept walking, alarm seeping into her when she sensed him behind her now, following at her heels. When his strong hand clamped around her arm and forced her steps to halt, every nerve ending in her body jangled with sudden dread.
Dammit. Had Mercier sicced security on her? But then, if he had, she would likely be facing a team of armed guards on orders to escort her off the property, not just one man who seemed to have a more than passing interest in her.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, trying to wrench out of his grasp without success.
“A better question is, what are you doing?” He kept his voice down as if to avoid upsetting the other guests, but his hold on her left no room for negotiation. “I’m going to need you to come with me now.”
Given little choice unless she wanted to create a very public scene, Kaya walked with him. He brought her into a vacant room down one of the main floor’s hallways, pushing her inside. He shut the door behind him, then turned around to face her.
Kaya crossed her arms, her heart racing. “Have I done something wrong?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes scrutinized her with a familiarity that unnerved her. “You and I both know you’re not who you say you are.”
Oh. God. Kaya swallowed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He chuckled. “Damn, you’re good. But then, you always were.” He reached behind him and turned the lock. Then he started to advance toward her. “It’s been a long time. Two years, is it? Three, maybe?”
She shook her head. “I swear, I’ve never seen you before today.”
Another chuckle, but this one had a menacing edge. “You can drop the act now. Just what kind of game are you running here, Raven?”
CHAPTER 7
Where the hell had she gone?
Aric saw Kaya abruptly leave the pavilion. Her pace had been purposeful, even verging on urgent. If there had been any graceful way to extricate himself from his dance with Mercier’s bride, Aric would have gone after her immediately.
Now, she’d been inside the mansion for several minutes and counting.
Something wasn’t right.
With murmured excuses as soon as the song ended, he left the dance floor and weaved through the clusters of swaying couples, his warrior instincts growing increasingly taut with each brisk step he took.
No sign of Kaya among the other reception guests inside. He scanned
